Power Word: Shield
Power Word: Shield (abbr. PW:S) is a defensive priest ability available at level 6. It creates a protective shield around a friendly target which absorbs a set amount of damage. Power Word: Shield also gives the target the Weakened Soul debuff for 15 seconds, which prevents the target from being shielded. Rank table Notes * The amount of damage absorbed by the shield is calculated after armor is taken into account. This means the shield will last longer on targets with more armor, and benefits from Inner Fire. * Counterspell effects will pierce the shield. Physical abilities like Shield Bash and Kick still cause interruption. * Fall damage is not absorbed. * Receives a 80.68% bonus from spell power (30% of +healing in Patch 2.3; 20% as of Patch 2.0.10, previously 10%) * Generates about half the threat of normal healing spells. * Cast time will not be affected by damage while Power Word: Shield is active. Daze effects are mitigated. * The shield appears to block suicide damage (from Warlock Hellfire and from Goblin Sapper Charges) , but does not affect damage from non-damaging spells that directly decrease health like Life Tap. * The shield will absorb damage from any harmful attack but does not defend against any debuff an attack may apply. For example, the shield will absorb the damage done by a Mage's Frostbolt, but the snare debuff will still be applied. .]] Improvements Talents and spells * Body and Soul: When you cast Power Word: Shield, you increase the target's movement speed by 30-60% for 4 sec, and you have a 50-100% chance when you cast Abolish Disease on yourself to also cleanse 1 poison effect in addition to diseases. * Borrowed Time increases spell haste by up to 25% on the next spell cast (with a cast time) after casting Power Word: Shield and increases spell power contribution to the amount absorbed. * Focused Power increases the amount absorbed by the shield. * Improved Power Word: Shield increases the amount of damage absorbed by the shield. * Mental Agility reduces the mana cost of Power Word: Shield. * Pain Suppression is an activated talent which also decreases the chance of Power Word: Shield being dispelled. * Rapture returns mana to the caster when the shield is fully absorbed. * Reflective Shield causes partial damage absorbed by the shield to be reflected to the attacker, without increasing threat. Only works if the casting priest is the target of the shield. * Renewed Hope increases critical strike chance on targets with Weakened Soul. * Soul Warding reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 4 sec, and reduces the mana cost of your Power Word: Shield by 15%. * Silent Resolve reduces threat gain from the shield and decreases its chance of being dispelled. * Twin Disciplines increases the amount absorbed by the shield. Items * Tier 8, or : Four piece set bonus grants 250 spell power for 5 seconds upon casting Power Word: Shield. * : On equip, increases the amount of damage absorbed by Power Word: Shield by 35. Glyphs Bugs * Twin Disciplines and Focused Power do not apply correctly to the amount absorbed by the shield. The bonus they give adds instead of multiplies. Thus, when fully talented, the size of the shield is multiplied by 1.09 rather than being multiplied by 1.04 and 1.05. * Glyph of Power Word: Shield does not take into account the bonus from Improved Power Word: Shield when calculating the healing amount * The amount healed by Glyph of Power Word: Shield is increased by any talents or effects the target has that increase healing done. For example, if the effect is used on a Restoration Shaman, the heal will be increased by 10% because of Purification. This bug created the commonly held misconception that Focused Power applies twice to Glyph of Power Word: Shield. When a priest tests the effect on herself, Focused Power does apply twice; once correctly and once because of this bug. On any other target the caster's Focused Power will apply only once. Tips and tactics * Casting it before combat does not cause any threat and reduces the time until the target can be shielded again. * A major disadvantage of the shield is that it is not a true healing spell, so it may wear off without having any impact. If the shield is cast on a player who will not be taking damage in the next 30 seconds, it is a waste of mana. * Paladins want to be healed rather than shielded. They receive mana from heals, but not from Power Word: Shield. Paladin tanks have tiny mana pools and rely on healing or will go oom. * Due to changes in rage/mana generation (especially with Blessing of Sanctuary), Power Word: Shield is more acceptable to place on tanks since 3.0.2. * There was a time when Power Word: Shield would only be used in case of emergency because of its large mana cost and cooldown. Now it is a mainstay of healing for Discipline priests and is actually one of the Discipline priests' most mana efficient heals. * Power Word: Shield can also be seen as a way of pushing a tank's health beyond its normal limit. It is effective to Power Word: Shield before major attacks that will destroy the shield in one blow. Using it before Patchwerk's Hateful Strike or similar devastating attacks reduces the chance that a tank will die to a possible critical hit after such an attack. * The effectiveness of Power Word: Shield is not altered by Mortal Strike and similar healing-reducing debuffs; in these situations it can sometimes be more effective to shield a tank first, rather than spam heals right away. * This is useful for casters who are receiving damage, as it prevents spell interruption from damage, especially while they are channeling, and even the priest himself can benefit from this (especially in solo combat). * The Weakened Soul debuff can be shortened to 13 seconds with the 4 piece bonus from Gladiator's Investiture. Patch changes * can now cause Divine Aegis.}} * * * * * * * * * * * * * * External links Category:Priest abilities Category:Holy spells Category:Magic buffs